DFA: Police attache verifying situation of Pinoys in Sabah standoff


The Philippine Embassy in Malaysia has sent a police attache to clarify sketchy reports that a group of armed Filipinos had arrived in Sabah and engaged authorities in a confrontation.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Raul Hernandez said on Friday the information reaching Manila remained sketchy at this time.

"Iba-iba ang version na nakakalap natin. Ang sabi ng iba, hindi armado ... ang sabi ng iba arestado na," Hernandez said in an interview over radio dzBB.

He also said the Philippine embassy in Malaysia is still coordinating with Malaysian security and defense officials.

He also said the embassy's police attache has instructions to determine the "identities and circumstances" of what happened.

"Ang ating embassy nagpadala ng police attache sa lugar para alamin ang identities and circumstances ng insidente," he said.

Earlier reports on Malaysia's The Star online said the armed Filipinos were engaged in a standoff with Malaysian authorities in Lahad Datu in Sabah.

The reports said the armed Filipinos claimed to be descendants of the "Sultan of Sulu," and distanced themselves from armed militant groups in the Philippines.

"They have made known their demands while we have told them that they need to leave the country," police Inspector-General Tan Sri Ismail Omar said.

Ismail said the group merely demanded to be be recognized as the "Royal Sulu Sultanate Army" and that the subjects of the Sulu Sultan in Sabah not be deported to the Philippines.

However, he said negotiations were still ongoing as of late Thursday to get them to return to their country.

Malaysian authorities earlier said they are negotiating with the group to avoid bloodshed. - VVP, GMA News

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

POPCOM, gagamit ng ‘digital platforms’ para pagtibayin ang mga ugnayang pampamilya

Mas pinalalawig ng Komisyon sa Populasyon at Pagpapaunlad (POPCOM) ang adhikain nitong pagpapalaganap at pagpapabuti ng pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga nakakatandang Pilipino sa kanilang mga anak na nagdadalaga at nagbibinata. Nitong Setyembre 21, ang POPCOM ay nagsagawa ng isang “parent-teen talk webinar” gamit ang Zoom, kung saan ang isang “interactive program” ang nagbigay ng naaayon na kaalaman at kasanayan sa mga magulang, habang tumulong ito sa mga anak na teenager na maabot ang kanilang buong potensyal. Hinikayat din nito ang mga nanay at tatay na sumali sa malayang usapan, lalo na sa mga usapin ukol sa sex at sekswalidad, na nakikitang makakatulong upang bumaba ang mga bilang ng mga pagbubuntis sa hanay ng mga kabataan. Maaaring mapanood ang webinar sa https://youtu.be/lZ9jrJCjYas. Ayon kay Ikalawang Kalihim (Undersecretary) Juan Antonio A. Perez III, MD, MPH, “ang webinar ay naging isang tagapag-simula at ‘padaluyan’ ng pag-uu
Read more

Biden said set to make push for demilitarized Palestinian state as part of new doctrine ---By LAZAR BERMAN

New York Times’ Thomas Friedman, who’s close to the US administration, says emerging doctrine would include Saudi-Israeli normalization, 2-state solution, and campaign against Iran US President Joe Biden’s administration is homing in on a new doctrine involving an unprecedented push to immediately advance the creation of a demilitarized but viable Palestinian state, The New York Times’ Thomas Friedman reported on Thursday. The plan, Friedman wrote, “would involve some form of US recognition of a demilitarized Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that would come into being only once Palestinians had developed a set of defined, credible institutions and security capabilities to ensure that this state was viable and that it could never threaten Israel.” White House officials “have been consulting experts inside and outside the US government about different forms this recognition of Palestinian statehood might take,” revealed Friedman. What he termed the new “Biden Doctrin
Read more

In Cairo, senior Hamas officials discuss hostage deal with Egyptian intelligence chief ---By TOI STAFF, AGENCIES and LAZAR BERMAN

Delegation said led by terror group’s Qatar-based political leader Ismail Haniyeh; Wall Street Journal reports Hamas demanding 150 security prisoners for each female soldier A delegation of senior Hamas officials arrived in Cairo on Thursday for talks with Egyptian officials on a possible deal that would see the release of hostages held by terrorists in Gaza. The delegation was led by Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who lives in Qatar, and included senior members Mousa Abu Marzook and Khalil al-Hayya, the Qatar-based Al-Araby news outlet reported, citing an unnamed Egyptian source. The Hamas officials met with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Major General Abbas Kamel, to discuss the details of a hostage deal proposal that was presented to the Gaza terror group earlier this week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators. The outline of the deal was drawn up during a meeting in Paris last week in the presence of Israeli and US officials, as well as Qatari and Egyptian negotiators, a
Read more